We learn that Rena is a much better detective than Haruhi, Mion is a much better emo than Mai, and the Oyashiro cover-up makes Da Vinci Code‘s look like child’s play. What else did we learn? Oh, yes, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is one messed up series, but we knew that already, didn’t we?

Wait, since when did “lost” become a moe fetish mode? I remember Princess Mashiro getting lost in the desert, and it wasn’t moe. Quite the opposite. Anyway, can we get Mikuru-run to demonstrate this fetish mode for us?

Poor Rika… what did Rena do to you!?! Where did the scratches and such come from? Did it involve a satisfied Rena smoking a cigarette afterwards with poor Rika crying next to her? And I wonder why I get comments like “Unlike Stalin she is a real tsunderekko…”

Rika very hauntingly tells K1 about how the village chief went missing, and how Rika knows about the sins that K1, Shion, crappy photographer, and blondie perpetuated on the night of the Watanagashi festial (they had an orgy in the storeroom or something like that… I have a selectively bad memory). She then breaks everything down in her own cute way…

Who can resist that? K1 breaks down and goes along with Rika’s cats and dogs analogy and spills the beans. He’s worried about what’s going to happen to himself, but Rika lets him know that she has his back. Um. Thanks. Imagine hosting a comedy special, only David Chappelle cancels and the backup option is Carrot Top. In other words, buy a tombstone K1.

Rika also lets K1 know that Mion is the big boss around here. K1, I’m telling you, if you only would have taken the harem highway instead of the killer loli turnpike, things would be going a lot better for you right now. You could be enjoying a Sonozaki sandwich right now. Though killer loli turnpike makes for much better blogging.

Whoa. For a second, I thought this was Kanon. Higurashi does this harem yet most definitely not harem tease very well. Can you imagine a scenario where you approach Nayuki and the options pop up:

1. Say “Hi!”
2. Offer to walk to school with her.
3. Offer to have a threesome with her and her mom.
4. Piss her off such that she’ll come after you with a machete.

(I’d pick 3 my first play through but come back for 4… who am I kidding? 3 again.)

K1 gets a call from Shion… Mion… I have no clue. She claims that she is Shion and that she confessed to the village chief, and K1 jumps to the conclusion that whomever they tell will get demoned away. K1 gets worried about Rika, whom he told earlier.

Anyway, K1 gets worried about Rika, and, on cue, she’s not home! So K1 assembles the remainder of the Killer Loli SOS Brigade and goes looking for them. Uh, asking Mion to come along is a good idea?

Though I love the randomly inserted fanservice shot of Rena in the bath. Are we sure the visual novel wasn’t h? (The girls, especially Rena and Rika, are very oddly proportioned… I mean… those twigs for arms and legs don’t look like they’re strong enough to wield a heavy machete.)

They reach Rika and Satoko’s place, and there’s no one there. So they try and force entry… which left K1 alone with Mion.

WOW!!! Shion doesn’t just redefine the emo facial contortion scale, she destroys it! No pantheon can contain Mion! I’m absolutely, unequivocally, and downright giddy right now. I’m a pool of giddiness. Can barely… type… if Mion said, “There’s snakes… SNAKES ON THE PLANE!” I would have self-combusted due to giddy overload.

Whew. I’m okay. That was close.

*Takes deep breath*

(Then I realize I picked her over Shana, Natusmi, et al for my harem. Good Goddess Suzumiya… what was I thinking?)

Though Mion is talking waaaaay too composed for the visuals. I’m not sure what went wrong, but the dialogue just doesn’t fit the animation. Not crazy enough. Not loud enough. Not emo enough. If Mion did a “KEI-I-CHI!” scream like Mai’s Takumi, Suigintou’s Shinku, or Shinn’s Mayu, it would have been a 800,000 out of 10 on the emo facial contortion scale instead of a paltry 700,000.

And she suddenly snaps back from Cockmonger Mion to Cute Mion. Wow. 360 degrees. It’s like watching our President in action. (I can only image CBS going through their web traffic logs and going, “WTF” when the stumble across this blog.)

K1 is frozen stiff from terror (kinda like me when I saw $3.75 for gas in San Francisco the other day) and finally realizes that maybe Mion has MPD, kinda like Dark Momoka, only Dark Mion is much, much scarier and probably wants to impale him with a farming hoe and eat his intestines afterwards.

OTL. K1 realizes that poor, innocent Rika and Satoko are gone. Is he wrecked with guilt, or is he thinking, “My time is quickly coming to an end, and I haven’t made out with a girl yet.”

The next day, Rena breaks down her clues from Rika’s place. It’s kinda disorienting that Rena has suddenly become the voice of reason in this arc. It’s like if Mai Otome‘s OVA suddenly featured a 38DD Arika thanks to a miraculous growth spurt. Actually, that’ll be awesome.

Rena breaks down the case with more insight than Haruhi did for the poor computer club fondler. I just loved how observant she was on the smallest of details… K1… I’d be very, VERY careful when trying to lie, k?

Oishi drops by and eggs K1 on a bit. Being a police snitch is not a good idea. Bad idea jeans even.

K1 does learn one bit… not only does everyone know that the four of them invaded the storeroom, he’s the only one left. Shion disappeared after the festival… which means that the girl on the phone could only be Mion, Dark Mion, yet another Mion personality, or Shion from beyond the grave. Oishi provides K1 with two other juicy tidbits as well… the village chief was at the hospital the day Shion supposedly confessed to him, which blows a hole in “Shion’s” story, and also that there may be something in that room that K1 didn’t see that saved him. Oooo… I want to know! Oyashiro is the Anime Da Vinci Code.

In one of the most chilling anime scenes that I’ve seen recently, K1 tries to communicate with “Shion” on the other line, only he’s not getting anywhere. It’s most probably Mion, but there’s a good guessing game as to what exactly is going on. If Shion never confessed to the village chief, why did the village chief disappear? What exactly did everyone but K1 see? What happened to Shion and her 38DDs? Though, the part that gets me is that Shion seemed to be the one in the dominant role… wasn’t she able to get those people to help K1 and her out of that jam involving the bikers? So how did Mion suddenly turn the tables on her? Or was it Mion all along… ? I’m beyond confused… I can’t wait to see how things turn out… and that’s a sign of some ass kicking storytelling.

(Though do I prefer Harem Higurashi or Murder Mystery Higurashi… mmm… both have their charms, but while there’s harem series galore, what other anime series has 12 year old girls stabbing each other and themselves with machetes? Can we somehow work a stabby storyline into Magical Girl Sasami Club?)

Just loved the laugh at the end. I’m going to rip the audio and use it as a ringtone.

“Doesn’t the laugh at the end match almost exactly with the one at the beginning of the arc? I checked both it sounded pretty close.”
Well it is done by the same seiyuu. Who knows, maybe they recorded the laugh as a sound clip and just repeat it.

“this episodes had a few tranlation errors…”
That has nothing to do with the episode itself?…

Okay, Mion does things with a human face that I just didn’t think were physically possible without tearing muscle and tendons off her skull… :D Gee, she makes Shinku and Mai look like bloody Rei Ayanami in comparison; their faces didn’t get NEARLY this.. ah… expressive (psychotic) during their appearances.

You know, this boy has a problem with his harem – namely, it’s crazier than Kaede with a room full of boxcutters. :D

No. Higurashi is not an H-game. Whatever H-CG you’ve seen were not from the original. The original is hardly a game even, it’s not interactive at all, and you only read… read… read… read… Took me 20 minutes of holding the skip-text button to get to the ending of episode 1.

>>Poor Rika… what did Rena do to you!?! Where did the scratches and such come from? Did it involve a satisfied Rena smoking a cigarette afterwards with poor Rika crying next to her? And I wonder why I get comments like “Unlike Stalin she is a real tsunderekko…”

Indeed masochism, sadism, and Stalinism are one and the same… :P

I can’t say I like being Rena fed the clues ala Deus ex Renaicha. Though I do look forward to seeing how close Mion can come to Norman Bates.

>>K1 is frozen stiff from terror (kinda like me when I saw $3.75 for gas in San Francisco the other day)

You know its probably going to get worse…Summer, and probable sanctions against Tehran.

Is it wrong for me to be watching the scene where they talk about the soy sauce and come to the conclusion that the cannibal pot luck was BYOC (bring your own condiments)? Maybe I’m just reading too much into my innate distrust for long haired quiet 8 year olds, but that’s where all the signs seem to be pointing.

Of course, from what I hear, people are on the salty side. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

this anime is so freaky lol my bor said that its 4 like plpp 18 and ^ but i don’t care im only 13 and i don’t find any thing wrong /w this show except the fact that after ep 4 it doesn’t make sence anymore cause K1 dide in that ep and the next 1 hes alive again like WTH !!!